Career
Bader’s art frequently uses found materials, delegation, chance, and conceptual instructions rather than traditional fabrication.[2][4][5]
For much of his career, Bader has made artist books and publications. His first book, James Earl Scones (2005), contains correspondences with art institutions about proposed projects. In one, he asks the director of Rome’s Capitoline Museums for permission to ride naked on the famous ancient Roman equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, ensuring the director that “this performance is an act of sheer reverence for both the continuum of Western art and the inexorable presence of history.”[2][6]
During his 2012 show at MoMA PS1, he exhibited live kittens up for adoption, and one of them was adopted under the title cat made out of crabmeat.[7][8]His installation also included uncredited works by other artists and two non-vegeterian burritos. [9]
In 2013, Bader received the Calder Prize, which came with a $50,000 dollar prize, and a residency.[10]
In 2020, Bader presented fruits, vegetables; fruit and vegetable salad, a participatory salad sculpture at the Whitney Museum of Art. In the afternoon and evening, four times a week, food items were taken from pedestals and turned into a edible salad of the artist's design.[11][12]